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REA and RICS bring together Renewables and Property Industries to bolster the Smart Home Revolution

The latest on evolving the renewable energy revolution into sectors such as the land, property and construction industry was under discussion this week at the Renewable Energy Association and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors collaborative event “The Clean Tech Revolution in Property”.

Hosted in the stately RICS headquarters in parliament square, the marble stairways and magnificently high ceilings provided a reminder as to how buildings have evolved, and as RICS managing director for UK markets, Matthew Howell stated, the event highlighted their ‘dedication to ensure that the land and property sectors are sustainable and valuable for our environment’.

With panels on a range of topics, from ‘the importance of the energy revolution for residential, commercial and industrial property sectors’ to ‘making money from electric vehicles with your property’, and keynote speakers representing the UK Green Building Council, Savills, CMS Law, Eaton, Octopus Energy, ChargePoint and more, the event spread the message that both sectors would need to come together to build renewables into modern day life.

Here is a quick look at the constructive (pun intended) points each of our panel discussions raised:

The Energy Revolution and its Importance for the Residential, Commercial and Industrial Property Sectors

Indeed one of the main hot topics was heat itself – in buildings totalling 30% of the UK’s carbon emissions. Richard Twinn, UK Green Building Council highlighted that this was both a great challenge and an opportunity, noting that energy efficiency in buildings is also one of the most cost effective ways of lowering carbon emissions. Kevin Bygate of the SPECIFIC Project in Wales went on to explain their inter-seasonal heat storage pilot which stores heat up to twenty times better than water, effectively creating transportable heat. In addition to this, they have been creating energy positive buildings which when integrated into new building constructions can effectively act as ‘free power stations’.

Further points on the heat issue were made around EPCs as a policy driver, although requiring rapid reform as they currently ‘value cheap energy over sustainability’ as explained by Sarah Sayce, Part-time Professor of Sustainable Real Estate at the University of Reading. The REA recently responded to the BEIS consultation on EPCs, although it is likely useful policy changes will be provided when the SAP 10 reforms are implemented.

Additional key points were around creating additional revenue streams in commercial property through colocation of solar, energy storage and electric vehicles. Naomi Nye of Alfen gave a case study of their Car Jeans Stadium project in The Hague, which is benefiting from energy trading revenues and Shaun McHugh of Octopus Energy highlighted how their Agile Tariff (the UK’s first half hourly wholesale tariff) is helping customers understand the real costs of energy and save up to £300 per year – especially those with electric vehicles. The key takeaways are that connected smart solutions in buildings are the key to realising value for developers and consumers/residents alike.

Conversation around commercial projects for land developers was fundamentally focused on connected and integrated systems. Nick Green, Savills highlighted that movement away from FiTs and other subsidies meant that projects must now meet energy demand to be economically lucrative, rather than chasing subsidy revenue. This calls for a more in-depth understanding of how we consume energy and utilising a combination of technologies for flexibility in supply. British Solar Renewables also stated that they 'expect that by 2021 every new solar park will have integrated storage' – David Peill.

The uptake of electric vehicles is also forecast to be one of the largest growth areas by Savills, which together can offer varied revenue streams to address the significant barrier to landowners of having a stable income stream. Landowners also value the ability to return land back to agricultural functionality at the end of a project lifetime as highlighted by Darren Edwards, Fisher German.

Steven Cirell of APSE Energy also promoted that local authorities are now realising the corporate and non-financial benefits of incorporating renewables technologies into their land and housing projects, and are coming forwards with many more ambitious schemes involving colocation of solar, storage and EVs in social housing. The importance here was effectively communicating the whole value of energy efficiency (financial and non-financial), which was also highlighted by Sarah Sayce (position) in the previous panel.

Making Money from Electric Vehicles with your Property

Chaired by Daniel Brown, Electric Vehicle Lead and Policy Manager at the Renewable Energy Association

As one of the fastest growing areas of the energy revolution, electric vehicles of course played a key role in discussions around prospective opportunities for both creating additional revenue streams, supporting the transport sector to decarbonise, and vehicle to grid services to support energy security and grid stability. Tanya Sinclair of Chargepoint stated that “every two seconds someone in the world is plugging into our electric chargers”, which signifies already the high demand for the switch to clean transport, although a key issue put forwards by the British Parking Association is the lack of charging infrastructure which is providing 'the single biggest impediment to EVs uptake' – Nick Davies.

Mark Gaunt of EATON also confirmed that there is a dire need for EV charging infrastructure in both commercial and industrial sites, in addition to Naomi Nye of Alfen highlighting the importance of three phase electricity supply in homes to facilitate domestic charge point rollout – an issue which the REA has been calling to be implemented in all new homes.

Future of Housing – A Revolution in Construction not just EnergyChaired by Michael Basquill, UK Residential Associate Director, RICS

The final panel began with an outline of changes expected in the construction sector from government in the coming decade, with Michael Basquill, RICS, highlighting that the government 'seeks to transform the industry model'. The importance of data collection as a measure of building performance was also emphasized by Dennis Seal, with databases such as BOPAS’ offering great opportunities to valuers and manufacturers in smart buildings.

A presentation from Ilke Homes then gave some case studies of their modular housing, and the ways in which they can offer 20% less heat consumption which 'when linked with housing associations and local authorities greatly helps tackle fuel poverty' – Jitin Mitra. There were also discussions around the future of modular housing and incorporating technologies such as 3D printing which would allow for better democracy for building owners and residents.

Overall a range of extremely successful discussions took place addressing key issues for further collaboration across the building and energy industries, with insights from expert speakers from varied fields. We would like to thank all the speakers and chairs, and thank CMS for sponsoring drinks reception. Following member feedback it is highly likely that we will hold more cross-sector events in the near future so please look out for these on the REA website and the weekly members newsletter.

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